Cleverness and Courage
by existence555
Summary: Hermione doubts her House placement when she feels that she is lacking in courage, but a certain Founder's portrait helps her realize that the Sorting Hat might not have been as wrong as she thought.


**A/N: Hi guys! I wrote this for the Colors Competition over on HPFC. This was written with this in mind: "****Yellow is the color of the mind and the intellect. ****Write about someone intelligent." So I decided to write about two of the most intelligent people in the series, Hermione and Rowena Ravenclaw! Let me know what you think and review :)**

In a small corner of a huge school, a fourteen-year-old witch is slumped against a wall, crying.

Hermione is one of the most brilliant witches that Hogwarts has ever seen, but that can't help her with this. Regardless of how well she does on tests or how many spells she can master, she can never get up the courage to confess her feelings to a certain red-headed boy.

"Why are you crying, child?"

Hermione looks up suddenly, mortified to be found in this position.

"Who's there?" she asks, picking up her wand.

"Relax," the voice says. "I'm to your right."

Hermione slowly turns her head to see a portrait of a stern-faced but beautiful woman with gentle eyes directed right at her.

"Have you a name?" the woman asks. "I am Rowena."

Hermione's brown eyes widen, and she gasps in recognition.

"R-R-Ravenclaw?" she stutters. "Rowena Ravenclaw."

"That is my name," Rowena tells her. "I was asking for yours."

"Hermione Granger," Hermione replies quietly.

"Well, Hermione, you didn't answer my first question either," Rowena notes. "Why are you crying?"

"I'm clever," Hermione begins, but pauses to wipe the tears from her cheeks.

Rowena chuckles, softening a little bit.

"That's no reason to be upset," she tells her.

"No," Hermione sniffs. "But it is reason to think I was put in the wrong house."

"So you are not one of mine?" Rowena asks in surprise. "Which one of my friends was lucky enough to get you?"

"I'm a Gryffindor," Hermione replies. "But it doesn't make sense. I'm good at studying, at problem solving, at thinking. I'm not fearless or brave or _anything_. I just love to learn."

"The Sorting Hat is a good judge of character, young one," Rowena says. "Do not be so quick to question it. Nobody is fearless. Why do you not think yourself brave?"

Hermione shrugs.

"There's this boy," she sighs.

Rowena laughs again and nods understandingly.

"Continue," she encourages Hermione.

"He seemed quite horrid when I first met him," Hermione goes on. "He's still pretty stupid, actually. Completely infuriating. Sometimes I wonder if he'd notice if I replaced his wand with a stick! But I'm the one who's stupid about him. I… I _like_ him! And I can't even say it. I'm not—I'm not brave enough to say it!"

Tears start to fill her eyes again, and Hermione buries her face in her hands.

"Silly girl," Rowena says gently. "None of us are ourselves when it comes to love. I wasn't always wise in love, and Godric wasn't always brave. But when the time is right, your true self will come out. One day, if you love him, you will be able to tell him."

"But I'm so scared," Hermione whispers, biting her lip. "What if he doesn't feel the same way and I just lose him completely?"

"There will come a day where your Gryffindor spirit will lie dormant no longer," Rowena smiles. "And on that day, you will say what you need to say. Do not despair. Until that happens, use some of that cleverness of yours to nudge him in the direction."

Finally, Hermione nods in recognition.

"Well, there is one thing that I could do," she remarks thoughtfully, getting to her feet.

"Then do it," Rowena replies. "Do not hesitate, child."

"Thank you," Hermione tells her. "Thank you so much."

"I'm glad to have been of help," Rowena says. "Anything for a student of Hogwarts."

Hermione gives the Founder a bright smile before walking away, and Rowena's portrait watches her until she disappears from sight.

Hermione never found that corner of Hogwarts again, but she didn't need to. The next day, with the portrait's advice in mind, she accepted Viktor Krum's offer to take her to the Yule Ball, and Ron Weasley finally realized that she was a girl. Years later, when their love was realized on a battlefield, Hermione knew that she was the Gryffindor she had originally thought she could never be.


End file.
